In the summer of 1974, a shadow fell over the coronary care unit of Petersburg General Hospital in Virginia. John Edward Harris, a 64-year-old African American man, was a patient in the unit, expecting to recover. However, on the night of June 23rd, his life came to an unexpected and suspicious end. His death was not an isolated incident but part of a string of chillingly similar events that had begun to alarm the hospital staff.
A disturbing pattern was emerging: patients were dying unexpectedly, always during the night shift.
An internal investigation was launched, and a common denominator in the recent patient deaths was soon identified: a 21-year-old nurse's aide named Lee Roy Hargrave Jr. was on duty during each of the fatalities. Further scrutiny revealed that Hargrave had not only been present but had also initiated the emergency response in most of the cases. As the investigation deepened, toxicology reports for several of the deceased patients, including John Harris, revealed lethal doses of lidocaine, a heart depressant that had not been prescribed to them.
The discovery of the unprescribed drug in the deceased patients' systems led to the arrest of Lee Roy Hargrave Jr. on August 14, 1974. He was subsequently indicted for the murders of six patients, one of whom was John Edward Harris. Hargrave pleaded not guilty to all charges. In May of 1975, he stood trial for the murder of one of the other victims, 73-year-old Josephine L. Thomas, and was convicted of first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence. Though indicted for the deaths of Harris and four others, he was only tried for the murder of Thomas. After serving 35 years in prison, Hargrave was granted parole in 2010.
